The
week before Easter is usually pretty busy for me.
Looking
at my diary Ben will be home so I’ll want to spend some quality time with him. I
see I have a school service to lead at Saint Mary’s on the Monday. There are
Holy Week services each evening in Long Newton. I, along with all other clergy,
have to go to the Cathedral on Maundy Thursday to renew my ordination vows. There
is a Good Friday meditation to lead here. Then there are Easter Sunday services
to prepare.
That’s
on top of the usual meetings and emails and phone calls and stuff that just
turns up. I’m not complaining; I love what I do. But that’s the week before
Easter and I’m a vicar.
If
you were to ask an observant Jew how he or she spends the week before Easter you
would probably find it is similarly hectic. Of course, they celebrate Passover
the same week.
It’s a highly evocative meal which has its own
customs, liturgies, and symbols – all of which have been handed down from
generation to generation, not just for decades, or even centuries, but for
millennia; they have done the same things every year since the eve of their deliverance
from slavery in Egypt about 1,450 years before Christ.
The Preparation
For
devout Jews work is cancelled. They are required to take a full week’s holiday the
week before Passover. Jewish businesses cease trading for the duration of the
holiday. Kosher food producers and restaurants all close down for 7 days.
Actually,
the men put their feet up and rest. But the women are expected to undertake an
in-depth spring clean of every square inch of the home, from the attic to the
cellar.
And
in particular, they have to rid the house of every trace of… leaven. Biscuits,
cakes, bread, crumpets, muffins, bagels, it all goes in the bin. But also
Marmite, beer and a whole host of other stuff… everything with yeast in it has
to go.
Every
surface is wiped down, every floor is vacuumed, every window is cleaned, every
bed is changed; no stone is left unturned – the house must be 100% leaven free
before Passover.
Yeast,
in the Bible, symbolises sin. Because sin, just like yeast, starts small and
unnoticed, but it ends up affecting everything. That’s why unleavened bread for Jews is a symbol of purity and righteousness.
So the women get busy cleaning and the men
watch TV. Sounds like a fair division of labour doesn’t it?
However, according to the rabbis, only the man about the house can legally certify that the home is officially yeast free. So they have devised a ceremony called the bendikat chametz in which he goes about with a feather, a wooden spoon and a handkerchief and he has to find the one crumb of bread that she has deliberately left. He sweeps it up, takes it to the synagogue and burns it. You can buy a special kit like the one on the screen for that very purpose.
When
the disciples ask Jesus in v12 “where do you want us to go and make
preparations for the Passover?” this is what they mean. They have to get a room
up to spec, yeast free, before laying the table and setting all the food out. But
Jesus tells them the room will be furnished and
ready, meaning he has already made arrangements to get rid of all the yeast.
I
wonder if you realise why Jesus says to just two of the twelve in v13, “Go into
to the city and a man carrying a water jar will meet you”? Why doesn’t Jesus just
say, “I’ve booked a room at 47 Bethany Street” for example? Why does he talk in
this covert kind of way?
It’s
because Judas is right there listening. Jesus knows that Judas is looking for
an opportunity to betray him; v11 says he is actually watching for an
opportunity to hand him over.
Luke’s
Gospel records that Jesus says, “I have eagerly desired to eat the Passover
with you before I suffer” but if Judas gets wind of the address where this
Passover meal is going to take place, there’ll be a whole bunch of temple
police waiting at the door with swords and clubs. The last supper will never
happen.
The Meal and its
Meaning
Those
of us who are Gentiles generally have a pretty sketchy idea of what the
Passover meal involves. A few years ago, I invited a friend from an
organisation called Jews for Jesus to give a presentation about it in the
church I was leading at the time. It blew my mind.
The
Passover meal speaks eloquently about what Jesus did for us when he died in our
place. He is in every symbol, in every custom, in every commemoration, in every
ritual.
Remember, all observant Jews do this every
year. The youngest present at the meal begins by asking “Why is this night
different to all other nights?” In the upper room, this might well have been
the Apostle John.
And the head of the home replies, explaining to
everyone gathered. “This is to remind us that God delivered our people from
slavery in Egypt and led us into the Promised Land.” These are the words that Jesus would have said.
All
Jewish households celebrating the Passover today, following the instructions in
Exodus 12, take parsley, dip it in salt water and eat it, reminding them of the
tears and sweat of their ancestors while they were slaves in Egypt. And the
head of the table explains that this is a reminder to them of the bitterness of
life.
These
bitter herbs are also made into a kind of paste, like horseradish sauce. They
dip their unleavened bread into the sauce and when they eat it, it’s like chopping
an onion, tears begin to fall.
When Jesus says, “one of you will betray me,
the one who dips his bread in the bowl with me” well, this is the bowl of sauce
he is talking about, this bitter horseradish sauce.
In
v19 it says that they are all upset.
Do you know why? Because everyone present will have already dipped their
unleavened bread into this sauce. In a sense they did all desert him and deny him. But Jesus takes bread again later in
the meal, dips it in the bitter sauce and gives to Judas saying, “What you must
do, do quickly.”
The
Passover meal, according to Exodus 12, also contains lamb that must be without
defect; no broken bones or malformations. It doesn’t say why. But we know that Jesus is the Lamb of God,
without sin, who takes away the sin of the world. Neither Pilate or by Herod
will find any wrong in him. His bones will not be broken on the cross, even
though according to Roman custom they have to be.
Every Passover meal features a bag for the
unleavened bread and it’s called a matzoh
tosh. There’s a picture of one on the screen. It’s a bag with 3 compartments,
and each contains a slice of bread without yeast.
A matzoh tosh like this is what Jesus will
have used too. The
rabbis say that the bag is a unity: three breads, one bag, three in one.
The
bread in the middle bag is called the bread of affliction. Some rabbis teach
that the three breads represent Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Others disagree and say
that it symbolises the priests, the Levites and the people. There are other
interpretations. But no one really knows why there is this three-in one bag.
What could it possibly point to?
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| Picture courtesy of Lumo Project |
At every Passover meal, they play a little game of hide and seek. Taking the second unleavened bread, “the bread of affliction,” out of the middle compartment, they wrap it in a new linen cloth called the afikomen which means “it comes later.”
According
to the custom, the afikomen is
removed from sight and hidden somewhere in the house. Then, later, the children
go and search for it.
And here’s the amazing thing; in every Jewish
home at Passover, the head of the meal unwraps a linen cloth and reveals this unleavened
bread (symbolising sinless perfection) and they what do they see? They see pierced
holes and dark stripes where the bread has been baked. Does that remind you of
anything?
Surely, it points to Isaiah 53 that says, “he
was pierced for our transgressions and by his stripes we are healed.”
At
the last supper with his disciples, in the Upper Room, this is the bread Jesus breaks saying, “take, eat, this is my body,
broken for you;” it’s the bread of affliction, marked by stripes, pierced all
over, that was taken away but then reappears.
It
is a vivid visual symbol of his broken, pierced, scarred body, revealed to all,
having been put away in a linen burial cloth.
The
Jews then take a cup of wine; the third one of the meal. This third one comes
after the supper itself and it is called the cup of redemption which looks
forward to the time when the Messiah comes.
This cup of redemption is what Jesus gives to
his disciples after supper saying, “Drink this all of you, this my blood of the
Covenant which is poured out for many.”
One
day, maybe soon, the Lord will open the eyes of his beloved people, the Jews.
Zechariah 12 says “They will look
on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him
as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”
Perhaps
it will be at the Passover table that their eyes are opened to see and embrace
their Messiah and ours.
Feasting at the Lord’s
Table
Why do we share this simple meal as we have done
today? Because Jesus himself told us to, so that we
never forget what it cost him to bring us together and win us for himself.
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| Picture courtesy of Lumo Project |
Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” We have just been thinking about what happened at the meal in the upper room when Jesus broke bread the night before he died.
He
wants us to remember, above all else, more than his birth, or his baptism, or
his leadership, or his teaching, or his miracles or his works of compassion -
he wants us to remember his sufferings
and his death and his resurrection.
This is what we recall this morning in
breaking bread
and pouring out wine. It’s more than a reminder; it’s a re-enactment. There is nothing else on earth quite like it.
Every time we eat this bread
and drink this cup, 1
Corinthians 11 says we proclaim the
Lord’s death until he comes again. By
sharing this meal we publicly identify with the power of the cross and
resurrection for us.
Taking
bread and sharing a cup is to say openly, “I believe
today with all my heart that Jesus really died on a cross, that he actually carried
my sin there in his body and because of him I can know God and be healed.” I am not a casual observer.
I am part of the story. Jesus didn’t say, “Watch this”, he said, “Do this in memory of me”.
We share this simple meal recalling Jesus’ agonies on the cross. We also share it to express that we belong to a
Christian family, we belong to one another, we are members of one another as
the Bible puts it. We, who are many, are one body, because we all share one
bread. Meeting together at the same table is not just “me and Jesus” but an
expression of love for one another as well.
That is why it is important to be right with
one another before we come to communion. Jesus said, “If you enter your place
of worship and you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you… go to
this friend and make things right first.”
But of course, it’s about making sure we are
right with God as well as with each other. It is a holy communion.
When we break this bread, it’s just bread. No more. There’s no
“abracadabra” or magic words. The wine is real wine. If you drink it all, even
‘consecrated’ you won’t be legal to drive home! The physical ingredients do not
change.
But by the power of the Holy Spirit, when we
engage spiritually by faith, it’s
more than just bread to us. It’s, as it
says in 1
Corinthians 10, “a participation in the body of Christ.”
It’s a bit like a window. You can look at
a window; the frame, the handle, the size, the shape… Or you can look through it and see much more.
When we eat and drink, in faith, there is healing and grace. It’s the bread of heaven. In
this cup, there’s forgiveness and life forever. As we come in faith, by the Spirit, Jesus is present.
You can see just bread and wine if you want. In essence that’s all
it is. But you can also, by faith, look through and taste and see that the Lord
is good.
Ending
So this is why we eat and drink with one
another at the Lord’s Table. It is a sweet and holy thing. But what about that bit about eating
the bread or drinking the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner?
It
says if you do that, you “will be guilty
of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” And it goes on. “We ought
to examine ourselves before we eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For those
who eat and drink without recognizing the body of the Lord eat and drink
judgment on themselves.”
Who is not troubled by these words? What does
it mean to examine yourself before eating and drinking?
It means this is a serious business between you and God. It’s not a
religious game. Don’t do it lightly. It’s a time to remember Jesus’ death and
what it cost him to save you from sin.
But what if you don’t “recognise (or discern)
the body of the Lord?” Does the Bible really mean here that if you take
Communion insincerely or absent-mindedly you can fall ill and die?
Paul’s words in v30-31 are plain. “Those who
eat and drink without recognizing the body of the Lord eat and drink judgment
on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of
you have died.”
It’s
true. There’s one who ate the bread and drank from the cup, who
dined with Jesus at
the last supper, without having examined his heart, someone who died soon
afterwards; Judas Iscariot, the one who tragically fell
away.
Peter, that same night, denied Jesus too, as we’ll see over the
next two weeks. But he turned back in tears of repentance, was
restored, and
went on to bear much fruit.
I want to end by showing you a testimony of a man, who doesn’t live that far away from here. His story shows why Jesus died, how powerful and life changing that is, and why we come back to the cross when we meet to worship.
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| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1n5M9L2EeY |
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 25 February 2018
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